installing subs, in need of help

Systems

hey everyone, i'm a bit of a newbie to installing subs into cars, to i have a pretty bad idea of what's goingon..
can anyone please refer me to a site that would give me a basic idea on how to do it.. like a step by step tutorial or anything?

any help would be appreciatied.. thanks a million in advance

jason

PoweredByDodge

download this...

its great for beginners...

prolly take u 10 minutes to download it on a phone line modem btu its worth the time...

read it cover to back and then come back with any questions...

http://pix.crutchfield.com/CarGuide/CarGuide_72.pdf

NOTE - u should opposite mouse button click on the link, then click "SAVE AS" and save it to your computer, and then open it once its done downloading.

if you just click on it, it'll try to open in your browswer window, and with it being such a large file, it may lock up your browser.

Systems

great thanks ill read it right through
took me 6 seconds to downoad
thanks again!

Systems

ok, i read through that.. and i still have a couple of questions, if anyone could help me out.

i've heard a couple of different things about how to connect power/audio

first with power, i've heard that i either 1) get power from the deck or 2) get power directly from the battery.. which one is it?

second about the audio signal.. do i either 1) (using RCA plugs), connect the deck directly to the amp using a dedicated LFE output or do i 2) connect to say the rear speaker cables, in which i would need a crossover?

i'm still a little confused! :S

any more help would be great! thanks
jason

Systems

first thing is first
1- the power from the battery direct go to the scerw terminal that is marked power or 12v+ and the one from the deck if it is anew deck then the blue wire is the one you want to hook up to the screw terminal marked remote and of course the grond [ not more than 18inches long ] to frame.
2- put the fuse within 12inches of the battery.

what kind of amp is it and are your subs svc or dvc {1-2 voic coils] and aslo the impedance i will help you further if you like i also have sp cool trickd that cost $0.00 let me know.

Systems

actully, i dont own the amp yet, ill be purchasing it tomorow probably, i will most likely look into this a little bit more... take my time and do my research

what do you recommend though, dual voice coils or not? any other reccommendations? your help sounds really great thanks.. stay in touch

Systems

oh, and i dont even know what amp ill be getting yet, im going to look into them more

Systems

ther are lots of reasons to buy and amp power,looks,or brand preferance etc,
first star with the power handling of the subs and thats the power class you will start with so you will need to look at the RMS value or number.

now if the total of the two are lets say for eg: two subs 150 watts each so you would have 300 and need an amp in the 300 class now if you cant find one you like you can also look for 400 or 500 dont worry about overpowering them, you will have great sounding bass with no distortion.

if your not worried about the greatest sound possible do not worry about price and the level of amp and yes you do get what you pay for.

now the svc or dvc all depends on your aplication dvc's are good for brigeing the amp down so it sees less restance and makes more power but you do need an amp with lots of jam to run two subs with dual voice coils and are also so good for doing seires and parelle conections again for less resistance more power.

for you i would suggest svc wired in parelle for a 2ohm load for say 500watts so 250 each would give nice good sounding bass.



thank you for taking my advice and the compliment and hope to hear your reply soon.

Systems

hey, ok ill take your advice and go for 2 10" svc subs, maybe even 12".... depending on what's at the store and the prices... also depends on what speaker boxes are available.. im not into making more boxes, i created my own home audio ones and it was abit painstaking.

i hate to say it but i think im going to go with rockford fosgate (hate to say it becasue i'm on a polk forum)

could you please compare the following 2 woofers, both 10"
what are the main differences.. upon basic inspectioin they seem to be pretty similar, except for about a $100 price difference.

http://www.futureshop.ca/catalog/proddetail.asp?logon=&langid=EN&dept=9&WLBS=fsweb5&sku_id=0665000FS10014014&catid=&newdeptid=9

http://www.futureshop.ca/catalog/proddetail.asp?logon=&langid=EN&dept=9&WLBS=fsweb5&sku_id=0665000FS10027038&catid=&newdeptid=9

what do you think of these? $99.00 canadian isn't much.. makes me wonder...

do most amplifiers include the fuse that i will need to locate within 12 inches of the car battery?

also, my deck has 2 outputs for audio, rear R/L and front R/L
which two should i run to the amplifier in the back?

i'm still looking for an amp as well, if there is anything that catches your eye at that futureshop site, please let me know, becasue that is probably where im going to purchase from.. that or A&B sound... thanks for all your help, greatly appreciated

Jstas

OK, I can't stand this any longer.

First off, here (click me) is a pretty good FAQ on wiring speakers, it's written in english too.

As far as what speakers to buy, is there another place you can look for equipment? That site you posted is pretty weak in the choices category and most of it is literally bottom rung stuff.

What are you really going for? What is your goal?

As far as the difference between a dual voice coil speaker and a single voice coil speaker and thier applications goes, it's not so cut and dry. You use what you need to, to get the sound you want in the space you have. It is not easy at all to fit a pair of 10 inch subs in something like a Miata. Then again, a Miata's listening space is way too small for 2 10 inch subs. A single 10 inch sub with dual voice coils allows you to run a small enclosure and a small amp that doesn't take up a whole lot of space or current draw and still get that big sound you want. A sub with 2 voice coils rated at a 4 ohm impedance each will result in a 2 ohm sub if the voice coils are wired in parallel or an 8 ohm sub if wired in series. That gives you many more options for amplifiers. With a DVC sub, you can run a stereo amplifier with one channel per voice coil or, you can bridge that amp and run the voice coils in parallel and gain even more power by running in a 2 ohm state rather than a 4 ohm state.

Also, do not limit yourself to the first place you come to when purchasing equipment. That online store you referenced has no choices at all. The prices don't seem to be all that great either. At least not for the equipment they have. Look around. Look at what is out there. I'm sure you can find something better that meets your tastes and needs without having to artificially limit your choices like you are.

I have to bring up a point though. You have asked for alot of information and have recieved answers but it seems no one has asked you what kind of car you are installing this equipment into. I wonder how answers can be given with such certainty when no one knows what kind of car you are driving and installing to, what kind of sound you are going for or even what your budget is.

How about you tell me what kind of car you are installing into, what your budget is and what kind of sound you want. Then, I can give you a much more accurate answer and probably help you find some great prices on higher end stuff that won't break your budget.

Systems

thanks, that post was helpful
its going to be installed into a 1992 honda civic LX 4-door...
theres plenty of room in the rear...
im looking for big bass with the sound, listening to a variety of music, including hiphop, and some metal as well..

the trunk is large, but at the very back of it the space may be a bit limited so i dont know if i could fit 2 10" subs side by side.

im considdering just having one 12" sub back there im going to go look at a bunch of different places sometime this week and see what is open to me.

thanks for any help
jason

Systems

my budget is pretty much pretty cheap :S.. i dont have a lot of money to spend on this so i'm thinking about $400 canadian, perhaps a little bit more

Systems

jason where in canada do live iam in edmonton.

i think the rfp the higher end rockford would be you better bet for what you need 10's will give the punch and also if you go you use the right size box and out polly in it it will give you the sound you want no also put the subs facing the rear of the car .


now the outputs on the deck you should use the rear for the subs and then you can control the bass level with the fader contorl on your deck. now with wireing i got that covered also.

your rear speakers and subs wire 180 degrees out of phase this will give a hall effect and you can hear the song move around you.

now how to get this is easy take the positve on the amp and put it to the negitve on the sub and vice versa for the negitive.
if you do one sub thee other way your output will drop by 50% so becareful.


for the fuse- no thee amp has an onboard fuse but you still want one at the battery in case somthing happens in the middle ofthe wire. when you by your amp pick up a amplifier installation kit and it will have everything. and since your on a budget go to london drug and get the pyrimid one its only 25 or so and will work great for you.

go to the audio store and ask to listen to a ported and sealed encloser and see witch one you will like and for the music you listen to.

i prefer sealed but i think you will be much happier with a ported or bandpass encloser. but listen to them all with your on cd's and then decide.

also look in pawn shops there are good deals to be had.


a single 12 will give you more if you get the right one thats were i like rockford i love the sound of there 12.

look forward to keeping up the talk love to teach and if your in alberta we might beable to get to getther and do the install for yeah. see you later

Jstas

Well Jason, given that you have a Civic 4 door, I know that space is at a premium. Even if you say you can give it up, there is still comparably less space than say an Accord or a Pilot. So, given that small space and the power restrictions due to a lower capacity charging system, I will go from there.

Number one, space is at a premium. Personally, I would not stuff 12 inch subs in there. They will be too big and have a very good chance of not fitting. Since you are loading the trunk with subs, think about it. Since the trunk is small, it will affect the way a big set of subs sound. The big subs will easily over-power the small, confined space. So with that, I think I would limit you to 1 sub and a 10 inch at that. Since you want big boom though, either a high-power handling sub or a dual voice coil sub will be your best option. Also, I will recommend a sealed enclosure. You may be able to fit 2 12's or 2 10's in a ported box in the trunk but, will that box fit through the opening for the trunk? Will it interfere with clearance for things like trunk hinges and support springs? Will it sit level? Will it cover up your spare tire? Basically, bigger is not always better.

Now, I'm going to steer you away from the cheaper subs. I think you should put the most money from your budget into your sub. I think that for your needs, I'm going to go with my experience and recommend Polk's top model. The Polk/MOMO MM104 component subwoofer. It'll handle 500 watts RMS and in a small Civic, it'll pound hard enough for a beginner guy like yourself. It will cost 200+ retail but I know you can get it cheaper. However, the cheaper places are not usually authorized Polk dealers so you may not want to go that way in order to preserve a warranty.

Now, you could go with a 12 inch sub but that will be a box about 15-25% bigger than the 10 inch sub and you will have to consider fitting the box in the trunk. A 10 inch is much more likely to fit and will give you a cleaner response because there is less overall mass to move. It may not be as heavy as the 12 inch sub hitting but there will be ample rumble if you put some juice on it.

So now you need an amp. We want to power it with a good, clean amp but we aren't going to pay alot at all. So, I want you to look around and see what you can find for this amp:

http://www.carstereotime.com/default.asp?action=details&productid=ZEUS%20Z400

It can be bridged to give your 400 watts into 4 ohms. Should be plenty of power for your sub to hit hard. That may also be an old model but I know the Zeus line was update and can be found, just look around.

That site is U.S. dollars. Yes, it is expensive but, I promise you it will give you more boom than you can imagine it would. You may not want to get your Polk sub from that site though because I do not believe that Polk will honor a warranty because I do not think they are an authorized Polk dealer. The amp should be OK though. All that should give you a subwoofer for about 350-400 Canadian, if I calculated exchanges right. There will be a little extra for wiring for the amp and the sub box which will probabl push you over your budget limit but not too far to unmanagable. That blows the whole budget you listed and a little more but it will be worth it. What I need to know is, do you plan on using that budget to buy a head unit and full-range speakers also? If so, let me know and I will change my recommendations.